“I hope they lock him up for ever and ever.”
“You were very brave in there, Liam. I was proud of you.”
“I didn’t feel brave. I thought he would see me and jump out of his wheelchair and kill me.”
One evening a short time later, Liam opened the door to Inspector Osborne.
“May I come in?”
Delia Cassidy, working in the kitchen, heard his voice. “Come in out of the rain, Inspector.”
Liam stepped back and the inspector entered. “She’s in the kitchen. Give me your coat and go on through. There’s a fresh pot of tea just made.”
The three of them sat at the kitchen table. Delia Cassidy poured three cups of tea. “Jack and Rory are down at Rob O’Brien’s, helping him fix his old car,” she told the inspector.
Inspector Osborne looked tired. He helped himself to milk and sugar. Liam and Delia Cassidy sat stirring their tea in silence, waiting for him to speak.
“Officer Cameron Bentley—or the Mole as you call him, Liam—will be spending the rest of his life in that wheelchair, the one he had at the line-up.” The inspector placed his teaspoon carefully, absently, in the saucer. “And in a couple of months or so, he will be facing two charges of murder—your parents—and one charge of attempted murder—you.”
“I pray to God they send him to prison for the rest of his life,” said Delia Cassidy.
Inspector Osborne said, “If he’s found guilty…”
“Of course the man will be found guilty!” said Delia Cassidy.
“If he’s found guilty,” repeated the inspector, “a life sentence would be the usual penalty. But the prosecutor plea-bargained the Mole into revealing the name of his accomplice. The Mole will probably serve only fifteen years instead of a life sentence.”
“I don’t get it,” said Liam. “Do you mean the Mole gets a lighter sentence in exchange for ratting on his partner?”
“Yes,” said Osborne. “That’s right. The name of the Mole’s partner-in-crime is Kenny Dill. Dill has masterminded many killings, including those of your parents, but we could never pin anything on him before; he was too clever. Now we have a warrant out for his arrest. We also know now, for sure, that the killing of your parents was a senseless retaliation strike, as we’d suspected.” He shrugged. “It could have been anybody. It didn’t matter to them.”
Liam looked at Delia Cassidy.
She took his hand and held it tight.
As far as Liam was concerned, it was all over. The Mole was in jail and soon, by the sounds of it, the other murderer would be in jail too. “What about Grogan?” he asked the inspector.
“Fergus Grogan will also testify. He will say that Bentley threatened and bribed him into helping catch you. He will probably get a reduced sentence for aiding and abetting. Three to five maybe.”
“Years?”
The inspector nodded. “Moira Grogan wasn’t in on it, as far as we can tell, so she goes free. She was fired from the security division of course.”
When Inspector Osborne had gone, Liam sat down and sipped at a second cup of tea with Delia Cassidy.
“Ah, the man isn’t all that bad,” she said with a sniff. “For a policeman, that is.” She gave another sniff. “It’s just happy, I am, that he did his job and you’re safe.”
They sat in silence for a minute.
“Rory is delighted you’re living here with us, did I tell you that?”
He shook his head.
“Jack wanted children. We both did. But we could have only the one. Now Rory has the brother we always wanted for him.” She looked at him fondly. “And don’t ye look enough alike to be twins?” She laughed, delighted with herself.
That night, when he went to bed, he felt emptied but new. It was as if he were starting over. He had a new family.
Rory, in the next bed, was quiet, leaving him be. Liam was grateful for this. He didn’t need a lot of talk, not right now.
Tomorrow was Saturday and he and Rory would take the bus to the city, to the Youth Circus, and things would be just the way they used to be.
be just the way they used to Almost.
He would see Nicole again.
Life would go on.
Appendix
These are a few of the dates that Liam memorized in school:
1170 AD: the king of England declares himself king of Ireland as well, which leads to war. Ireland loses.
1609: England gives Irish land to Protestant settlers from Scotland. Catholics are forbidden to own land, vote, or speak the Irish language. The Irish keep fighting for their freedom.
1829: the Irish people win the right to vote.
1916: a small Irish rebellion in Dublin. England wins once again and Irish leaders are executed or jailed. Angry Irish patriots join Sinn Fein (“ourselves alone”), a non-violent political group fighting for freedom. Many others join the IRA (Irish Republican Army), led by Michael Collins, to fight with weapons.
1921: Michael Collins forces England to allow self-government and freedom for all parts of Ireland except the mainly Protestant north, now known as Northern Ireland or Ulster, where most Catholics still have no vote and no control.
1968: Catholics in the North of Ireland (who do not use the terms Northern Ireland or Ulster), inspired by Martin Luther King in the United States, start to form civil rights groups, fighting non-violently for equal rights with Protestants. They organize protest marches, forbidden by the government. The protestors are attacked and gassed. Catholic homes, neighborhoods and churches are attacked by Protestant mobs. The Catholics arm themselves and begin to fight back. England sends troops to keep the peace.
1972: Bloody Sunday. Fourteen unarmed Catholic protestors are killed by the British army in the North of Ireland. More patriots joined the IRA to fight the British. Fighting grows worse. Many lose their lives in twenty-five years of violence.
NB. Catholics are usually identified as Nationalists, or Republicans. Protestants are often identified as Loyalists.
1997: cease fire declared.
1998: April 10 peace accord (Good Friday Agreement) is signed. Catholic rights are guaranteed by government, but violence is still not completely eradicated, e.g. four months later, on August 15, twenty-nine people (and two unborn twin girls) are killed in Omagh; many hundreds are left physically and mentally scarred. March 15, 1999, Rosemary Nelson, solicitor, is killed by a bomb in Lurgan, County Armagh.
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NB. The story is set in 1999, but the events in the Ardoyne area described in the narrative are actually more recent. Holy Cross is a girls’ school.
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James Heneghan is the author of a number of award-winning books for young readers including Hit Squad, an Orca Soundings novel, and Waiting for Sarah (Orca). James was born in Ireland and now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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